McLaren P1 Undergoes Unthinkable Transformation in 100 Days

Given my love for all things drifting and rotary engines, it's not hard to guess who some of the people I look up to are. I've learned a lot from Rob Dahm by following his adventures from the early days of the 3-rotor RX-7. I have been in awe of D1 drivers who used this chassis, such as Mitsuru Haruguchi, Drift Zamurai, Masao Suenaga, and Manabu Fujinaka.

But I think these days we can all agree that the main promoter of rotary engines worldwide is a 43-year-old athlete from New Zealand: "Mad" Mike Whiddett. Seeing him doing demos in downtown Auckland before a WRC race will forever be imprinted in my mind, even though I watched it from afar. The man has dedicated his life to drift-spec Mazdas, building multiple RX-7s, RX-8s, and other chassis.

He's a 3-rotor and 4-rotor specialist, and you can easily tell when he's on track just by the sound of his car. Given his affiliation with Mazda, he also drifted an MX-5. His son, Lincoln, has an older NA model with a 12A inside. He also taught Max Verstappen the art of going sideways last year. The Kiwi star has traveled the world for racing, competing in Formula Drift in the USA and Formula Drift in Japan, going up the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and putting a show on for the people visiting the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Speaking of the latter, he has shown off his skills at this event for a decade. You'll see plenty of videos with him in the spotlights, including the one where he drifted the Lamborghini Huracan. At the speed at which content is moving on the Internet, he needed something fresh to stand out from the crowd. Seeing that someone built a six-rotor RX-7 recently, Mike opted to look at the problem from a different perspective.

Picking a McLaren P1 for a rotary swap was bound to be a controversial decision. Some purists will dislike the idea, but I'm sure most people will think it's amazing. Sure, Chelsea Denofa built a drift-spec Porsche Cayman, and that's cool. In the past, we had a drift-spec Porsche 911, multiple GT-Rs, and even Federico Sceriffo's Ferrari.

But did anyone see the MadMac drift-spec McLaren coming? I think not. What makes it even crazier is that he reportedly built the whole thing in 100 days. He wouldn't miss the opportunity to document everything on his YouTube channel. But I guess it will be much more exciting to see it live at the Goodwood Festival of Speed between the 11th and 14th of July. I wonder what the next big thing on his mind is. Let's not forget that we haven't seen much of his 787D either, so either of the two cars may be the star of a future viral video.